Maj. Gen. Michael Keltz assumed command of the reformed 19th Air Force, which oversees Air Education and Training Command’s flight training programs, in a ceremony at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, on Wednesday. The numbered air force stood up the beginning of October. It “reinforces proper oversight and relieves some of the dual-role responsibilities of the AETC commander,” Keltz said in a release. The NAF was disbanded in an effort to reduce staffing and headquarters cost under a 2012 initiative. “We tried the directed efficiencies two years ago. But when you have wing commanders and nothing in between them and a four-star commander, we found there was something missing,” Keltz explained. Now, “We can fully focus on the mission of flying training,” he said. Keltz previously served as AETC’s director of intelligence, operations, and nuclear integration from June 2013. He is a 1981 academy graduate with 4,000 hours flying time in airlifters and gunships.
Australia’s military will help the Pentagon pursue so-called “air-breathing” hypersonic weapons and more under the U.S.-run Allied Prototyping Initiative, the U.S. Defense Department said Nov. 30. The Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) initiative “will be essential to the future of hypersonic research and development, ensuring the U.S. and…